Breathless (12 page)

Peter stood up, brushing the sand from his pants. “I wouldn’t write him off yet. Give him a little time. We don’t know what he’s dealing with.” He moved a few steps towards the house before turning back. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone, not even your mom. It’s our secret.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

The words felt weird coming out of her mouth, but Lainey let it slide.

“Jon, please come back. I can’t do this on my own anymore. I need you,” she wept.

She wasn’t going to hold onto him like she held onto Becca. Especially if he wasn’t coming back. Lainey stared at her reflection in the mirror, looking at the bags under her eyes. She wasn’t sleeping well; nightmares of Jon and Becca being killed together haunted her dreams. She’d taken to drinking too much heavily creamed coffee and reading books late on the beach until the sun rose and she’d realize Jon hadn’t come back. Sadly, this was how she “dealt” with Becca’s disappearance, so Lainey was lying to herself. Her bag rested on the floor, containing her blanket and “To Kill a Mockingbird”. She tossed it onto her shoulder and grabbed her phone. Mom called a few times in the night to check on her, but at least she didn’t stop her. They’d been walking on egg shells since DNA confirmed it was Becca’s remains that had washed up.

“I’m going out.” Lainey moved through the kitchen, not caring if they answered her.

Her mom stopped her, holding out a peanut butter sandwich in a plastic baggie.

“Thank you.” Lainey tucked it into her bag, waiting for the kiss.

Her mom gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before letting her go. “You’re welcome, sweetie.”

Lainey gave her a painfully fake smile and headed down to the water. If Jon didn’t come back tonight, Lainey was done waiting for him. It was time to move on, and if he broke his promise, she’d never step in the water again. Her book plopped onto her blanket. The waves were a bit rough. White caps were visible as they came in and crashed upon the shore. A strong wind lifted her hair. Lainey pulled a hair tie out of her bag and pulled it into a ponytail.

It only took her about ten minutes to realize she’d been staring at the same page and hadn’t actually read anything about the girl dressed as a ham. She rolled her eyes, closing the book.

“Lainey.”

She jumped to her feet, almost stumbling in the sand. Her eyes searched the shore, but she couldn’t see anything. Groping around on the blanket, Lainey’s hand found her flashlight and she flashed it upon the water’s edge. A weary figure fought against the waves and washed onto the shore. Lainey threw down her flashlight, and ran for the person.

“Jon!”

Again, why is he naked?
Lainey dropped beside her love, listening to the sounds of his rough breathing. She gasped, seeing the blood on his chest in the moonlight as the silver orb came from behind the clouds.

“Jon!” Lainey shook his shoulder when she noticed his eyes were closed.

Jon groaned in pain as he came around. “My collarbone… I think it’s broken.”

“I’m sorry.” Lainey kissed him hard on the mouth before he could speak again. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she whispered.

“I promised… I would come back to you.” Jon hissed in pain, arching his back a little.

“Jon, what happened to you?” Lainey’s fingers brushed his arm. “You’re naked and bleeding again. We really need to stop meeting like this.”

“Merpeople don’t wear clothes – well, except for the girls. They wear seashells.”

“Focus, Jon.” Lainey put her hand on his cheek. “What happened?”

He grimaced, attempting to take a deep breath. “I asked… I asked to live… to be given a chance to live on the land with you. But it comes at a cost.”

“A cost? What cost? Jon!” She tapped his cheek, desperate to keep him talking.

He opened his eyes again. “The cost… was returning me to how I was before the sea took me. If I don’t survive this, I can’t go back to being a merman and… I’ll die.”

“Oh Jon,” she cried. Lainey scrambled back to her blanket and searched until her fingers grasped her cell. She grabbed her blanket too and ran back to Jon, falling to her knees. “Just hold on. I’m gonna get you some help. I won’t let you die.” The phone dropped in the sand twice as she called 911. Her hands were shaking as she covered him with the blanket and tried not to look at his face.

Jon was silent as she spoke to the 911 operator. He kept his eyes open, but Lainey knew it wasn’t enough. Instead of talking to them, she dropped the phone into the sand and kept it turned on. They would find them soon enough. She had to keep her love alive until then. Lainey ran her hands through his hair to calm him down. Sirens came from a distance away. It was gonna be okay.

“You never told me how you died as a kid.” Lainey’s voice trembled.

“I fell… from a boat, much like you did the day I saved you. I hit the side of the boat pretty hard and… broke my collar bone. I also… got stabbed by something. Then I drowned. It was a pretty rough way to go for a six-year-old boy. I was lucky the merpeople found me and saved me. I didn’t feel any pain.”

At least Lainey knew where all the blood was coming from.

“Why would you risk the life you had to be with me?” Her words were soft.

“I thought it would be obvious, Lain. I love you.”

She couldn’t control her sobs any longer. “I love you too, Jon. I don’t know how you did it, but you saved me. You made me happy and helped me to laugh again. I only wanna be with you.”

Lainey didn’t even realize they were still in the wake of the waves until the paramedics arrived and wanted to move Jon out of the water.

“He says his collar bone is broken,” Lainey said.

“What happened?” the paramedic asked. He stopped trying to lift Jon and knelt beside him.

“I don’t know, I found him like this.”

The female paramedic gently tapped his uninjured shoulder. “Can you tell me your name?”

“It’s Jonathan, but everyone calls me Jon.”

“Okay, Jon. Can you tell me where it hurts?”

Jon nodded. “Shoulder. Side.”

The paramedics went to work, asking him more questions as they examined him and checked his vitals. They didn’t seem bothered by the fact that he was naked. One started applying pressure bandages to the wound in his side as the other immobilized his arm to his chest. Jon’s eyes didn’t leave Lainey’s as she tried to stay calm. Slowly, his eyelids began to slide closed.

“Jon!” she exclaimed.

“I need you to try and stay awake,” the male ordered, patting Jon’s cheek to keep him alert. He stood up and lowered the gurney to the ground. “We’re going to move you in a moment. It isn’t going to be comfortable.”

Jon nodded, moving his head slightly to the side. Lainey moved up by his head as the female paramedic encouraged her. She kept her hands on his cheeks and spoke softly to him.

“If I don’t make… I just want you to know I love you,” he whispered.

“You’re gonna be okay. I won’t let you go.”

“If I die, please promise me you’ll move on with your life. Don’t let me hold you back.”

“I can’t –”

“Please, Lainey,” Jon interrupted. “For me.”

“I promise.”

His eyes slid closed.

“No!” Lainey screamed.

“His vitals are dropping. We need to move him now!”

The paramedics pushed Lainey out of the way and lifted Jon onto the gurney. They moved swiftly up the hill. One of the paramedics held up the IV bag. Lainey wrapped her arms around her chest as she watched. There was nothing she could do to save him now. Peter ran down the hill towards her. He must have seen the lights and heard the ambulance. Lainey ran to him and let him embrace her.

“Lainey, what happened?” Peter put his hands on her shoulders to keep her from running.

“It’s Jon. He’s hurt and I don’t know if he’s gonna make it. I have to be with him.”

Peter let go of her. “Go. Go, Lainey.”

She nodded, running up the hill as the ambulance pulled away. A small crowd watched her as she grabbed her bike from beside the house and climbed on. Her legs couldn’t keep up with the vehicle, but she desperately tried. The lights of the ambulance lit up the night. Lainey pedaled as fast as she could. There was no way she was going to lose him now, not after everything that had happened. Nothing was real without him. Everyone would fade away. Lainey threw down her bike when she reached the hospital and ran inside the emergency doors. Her watch indicated only fifteen minutes had passed. No one spoke to her as she approached the emergency room desk. She couldn’t imagine how she looked with blood on her white shirt and staining her hands. “A patient was just brought in. His name is Jon. I need to see him.” She pressed her hands down on the counter.

The young blond woman pushed back in her chair a little and gave a forced smile. “I can’t give out information on patients.”

“I’m his sister, please! I need to know what happened.”

The woman nodded, typing something into the computer. “I can’t let you in to see him. They’re prepping him for immediate surgery. You’ll have to wait here, Miss. In the meantime, I have some paperwork you can fill out.”

“I’m not leaving him. I’ll wait.”

Lainey sat down in a hard plastic chair by the windows to fill in the forms. She held the clipboard in her hands. Lainey knew nothing about Jon’s medical history, but quickly scribbled something down. It wasn’t much. She took it back to the counter and returned to her chair. A young father holding his coughing infant pulled his child a little closer. The only other occupants were a couple anxiously holding hands with their faces turned down. Lainey didn’t know what caused their pain, but it wasn’t important to her. She leaned back in the chair, staring up at the white ceiling.

“Please don’t let him die,” she whispered.

Lainey’s phone vibrated on the chair and the blood covered buttons lit up. Lainey didn’t touch it. She knew Peter was calling again. He’d called twice in the past hour. There was no new information on Jon’s condition. It had been four hours. Lainey didn’t want to talk anymore and refused to let them come and sit with her. She had to do this on her own.

“Wanna color with me?” A little boy around the age of five held out a train coloring book and a box of wax crayons. He gave her a big smile.

“I don’t think I can.” Lainey tried to hide the trembling in her hands.

“It’s not hard. I can help you.” The boy giggled, holding out the coloring book for her.

She glanced up and looked around the room for the boy’s parents. A woman holding a two-year-old boy who was crying softly glanced at her. She smiled and nodded. Lainey returned her attention to the small boy.

“I guess I can color with you.”

The boy grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the low table piled with old magazines covered in pictures of celebrity couples who weren’t even together anymore. He pushed them to the side and flipped through the coloring book.

“Do you wanna color a train or airplane?”

“I like trains. What’s your name? I’m Lainey.”

“I’m Manford Lewis, but my mommy calls me Manny. That’s my little brother Colton she’s holding. He’s not feeling well.”

Manny passed her a few crayons and motioned for her to color her paper. She smiled, picked up a blue crayon, and started to color her train. Manny grabbed the red, scribbling around his airplane. He paused and stared at her hands, frowning.

“You got blood on your hands.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It belongs to my brother. He was hurt and I tried to help him.” Lainey rubbed her hands on her shorts, trying to get some of it off. She felt a little bad about lying to the boy, but it didn’t matter in the long run. He wouldn’t know.

Manny ran over to his mom and came back with a small package of baby wipes. He pulled one out and pressed it into her hand. “I don’t want my crayons dirty.”

Lainey laughed, trying to clean off as much blood as she could. Once she had cleaned most of it off, Manny handed her a crayon and pointed to a part of the train he wanted her to color. As they colored, Manny would occasionally talk about his brother and it made Lainey smile. She looked up as a door to the emergency area opened, admitting a doctor in scrubs.

“I’m looking for family of Jonathan Reed,” he called.